Winter 2008 - Arkansas Children's Hospital

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HOSPITAL AND RESEARCH PROGRAMSOne area on which the Injury Prevention Center at ACH willfocus is car seat safety. Above, a certified child seat techniciandemonstrates the correct way to secure a car seat.The Injury Prevention Center will also focus on teachingchildren, teens and parents the importance of wearinghelmets and other protective devices.Injury Prevention Center at ACH Worksto Save the Lives of Arkansas Children■ Kila OwensWhen Dr. Mary Aitken* was a resident, she was working inthe neonatal intensive care unit of a hospital when a prematurebaby was brought in for treatment. After much medical interventionand many months of intensive care, the baby survived, and thestaff considered it a miracle.Several months later, Dr. Aitken learned that the baby had diedin a car crash. The fatal injuries to the child could have been prevented,if only she had been seated in an appropriate car seat.Dr. Aitken, medical director of the new Injury PreventionCenter at ACH, learned an important lesson when she heard of thebaby’s death. It was such a tragedy – an accident that could havebeen so easily avoided had killed the baby she and other medicalprofessionals had worked so hard to save.“It was upsetting because this child was a medical save, someonewho against all odds survived,” says Dr. Aitken. “The experiencegot me interested in the idea of prevention as an essential part ofhealthcare.”In Arkansas, fatal accidents for children ages 1-14 happen 20 to30 percent more often than is typical in the United States accordingto Natural Wonders: The State of Children’s Health in Arkansas, thefirst-ever comprehensive report of the overall health of children inthe state.Most injuries have preventable causes – they are not simply coincidenceor bad luck. Children are injured while riding in cars withoutproper restraints, operating ATVs that are not age-appropriateor without training or protective equipment like helmets or pads,and swimming without proper supervision.While not all accidents are preventable, most are, and the InjuryPrevention Center at ACH is trying to spread the word and savethe lives of Arkansas children.“For years now, we have recognized that Arkansas has a substantialproblem with injuries,” says Dr. Aitken. “Although we realize we havea big problem, we haven’t had a concentrated, coordinated approachto preventing these injuries. The center is going to provide that focusand the organized approach to help prevention.”The Injury Prevention Center, a three-year pilot project, is the firstdirect response to Natural Wonders. The mission of the center is toprovide the education and resources needed to prevent injuries.The first order of business for the center, which opened in early2008, is to analyze data to identify what injuries happen most often,why these injuries happen and where in the state these injuries occur.Staff members will then create a public awareness and educationcampaign based on the findings of the data analysis. Professionaleducation for medical students and residents at ACH is also importantso that these trainees will be aware of the injury problem andcan promote safety with their future patients.ACH currently promotes many injury prevention issues, includingcar seat safety, fire safety and ATV safety. The new Injury PreventionCenter will coordinate these activities, while also adding drowningprevention and motor vehicle safety for teens.In addition to educating the general public, the center will alsowork to ensure that public health leaders and policy makers are awareof the problem.“We want to make sure our leaders know what the current injurynumbers are and how measures that have been effective in otherstates might potentially improve those numbers,” says Richard Davis,associate director of the Injury Prevention Center.Continued on next page6
HOSPITAL NEWSECMO Program at ACH Recognized InternationallyECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) is a cardiorespiratorysupport system that can be used in critical care situationswhen a patient’s heart or lungs are failing with such severity that typicalintensive care support is not adequate to keep the patient alive.ECMO essentially provides long-term heart/lung bypass, taking thework off the heart and lungs.Arkansas Children’s Hospital’s ECMO program recently receivedthe Excellence in Life Support Award from the Extracorporeal LifeSupport Organization (ELSO). ELSO is an international organizationof centers that offer ECMO.The ECMO program at Arkansas Children’s Hospital is one ofthe busier programs in the United States, supporting approximately40-50 patients yearly and operating a mobile ECMO unit, one ofonly three mobile systems in the country. Mobile ECMO systemsallow the transport of critically ill patients, either by air or ground,while the patient is on ECMO bypass. The ECMO program at ACHbegan in 1989 and is one of the oldest programs in the nation.Arkansas Children’s Hospital was presented the Excellence inLife Support Award for its exceptional commitment to providinga quality ECMO program, staff training, continuing educationand ongoing clinical research.“This award is a tremendous honor and reflects many years ofhard work by a very large number of people. Our ECMO teamcontinually strives to better serve the needs of the most criticallyill infants and children across our state and region,” says Dr.Richard T. Fiser*, co-medical director of the ECMO program atACH. “The strength of our program would not be possible withoutthe broad, on-going support we receive from the hospital.”*Richard T. Fiser, M.D., FAAP, is co-medical director of the ECMOprogram at ACH and associate professor of pediatrics, UAMSCollege of Medicine.INJURY PREVENTION CENTERContinued from page 6The community outreach department at ACH has been educatingpeople about injury prevention techniques, such as seat belt andcar seat safety, for years, and will continue to be a partner to thecenter.One issue staff members know will be an ongoing challenge isgetting parents and children to buckle their seat belts while in a car.In Arkansas, a child dies every 2.5 days from injuries sustained in amotor vehicle crash, making it the leading cause of unintentionalinjury death among children, with infrequent car seat and seat beltuse a strong factor.To boost and sustain the safety initiatives promoted by the center,staff members will attempt to generate community-level supportfor many programs, including teen driving and helmet use.“One of our goals is to provide a concentrated injury preventionapproach so that people will hear about it again and again –because they need to,” says Dr. Aitken.Dr. Aitken, a pediatrician, and Davis, a former law enforcementofficer, think their backgrounds will help with their activities at theInjury Prevention Center.“As a law enforcement officer, Richard was at the scene of manycar and ATV crashes involving young children,” Dr. Aitken says.“As a pediatrician, I see the consequences of these crashes in thechildren’s injuries. Our backgrounds help us understand exactlywhat we are dealing with when it comes to injury prevention.”Davis agrees. “I noticed when I was in law enforcement that somany accidents are preventable. It made me shake my head andwonder, ‘Why didn’t they take a few seconds to buckle up? Or puton a helmet?’ Some of these accidents are so easily prevented if wecan just get people to take simple steps.”For more information on the Injury Prevention Center, contact(501) 364-3400.*Mary Aitken, M.D., M.P.H., is medical director of the InjuryPrevention Center, staff physician at ACH and associate professor,department of pediatrics, UAMS College of Medicine.Unintentional Injury Death Rate,Children 0-19 Years, 1990-2004Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [online]. (2005) [cited2007 Feb 7]. Available from URL: www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqarsIn Arkansas, injury death rates are well above the nationalaverage. For children aged 0-19 years, unintentional injuryhappens 84 percent more often than across the nation. Theseare the dramatic numbers the Injury Prevention Center is tryingto reverse.7
Page 2 and 3: CONTENTSMichael JohnsonMichael John
Page 4 and 5: HOSPITAL NEWSStripes for SafetyProg
Page 8 and 9: HOSPITAL NEWSACH Among “100 Best
Page 10 and 11: DONORSKaren and John FlakeSupportin
Page 12 and 13: DONORSBernard SharpProud to Support
Page 14 and 15: HOSPITAL NEWSDr. Angela Green recei
Page 16 and 17: AUXILIARY GROUPSMiracle BallOn a mi
Page 18 and 19: AUXILIARY GROUPSCircle of FriendsRo
Page 20 and 21: CHILDREN’S MIRACLE NETWORKMiracle
Page 22 and 23: GIVINGThanks to You!Air Transport I
Page 24: Celebrating Miracles at the 2007 Mi

Winter 2008 - Arkansas Children's Hospital

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